Ice on the Lily
Summary The Calm Sea The smell of the sea filled the air around a ship that sailed alone. The utter silence of the sea made it easier for the passengers onboard to safely and peacefully meditate. The , a place known to almost never have ocean currents or winds blowing. In the depths of this ocean lie the vicious beasts known as . As the ship sailed across the ocean, a trail of ice was left behind it. The ship's belly was covered in metal and to an outsider, it was for an unknown reason. "Shut up, kid." A white-haired man stated to a young boy at his side. "When she finds this out, you'll be dead meat, kid." The man approached the front of the ship, looking over the railings that held people from falling over. He threw his hand over his forehead, as though he were trying to create some sort of shed as he looked in the distance. This man was none other than Jack Frost, a commander and Shichifukujin of the Black Widow Pirates. The young boy quieted himself, just as Jack had commanded. For the time being at least. He reaching into his pocket and pulled out a small tablet, pulling a pen from its springs. Opening it, he began to write on a page that was already full of words. The very top line had "Potential Recruits" written and underlined. Names were listed in bulletins as shown; *'Draco D. Damon' (Martial Artist, Cook) *'Phoenix D. Red' (Broker) *'Zahara Annabeth' (Doctor) Sengoku D. Autumn (Marine) *'Pendrake Arthun' (Marine) *'Draco D. Indiana' (Archaeologist) Draco D. Indiana had been the next name added to the page. He flipped over to the next page, there bore tons of writing sloppily placed compared to the page before. The top line read "Crew Name Drafts" and the list went as followed; *'Web Pirates' (No, too close too Legs' crew name) *'Zack's Troops' (Insanely stupid.) *'Pendant Pirates' (No, doesn't roll off the tongue too well.) *'Gold Pendant Pirates' (Literally the same as before) Those names were the only ones readable, the rest had been struck through with his pen. The boy flopped back and threw the notepad on top of his face. "If she finds out I'm here with you, I'm gonna' just blame you for this. That hag would never believe you over me, haha." The boy lifted himself back up and placed his notebook back into his pocket. Reaching into the opposite pocket he drew out a pistol. He closed one eye and looked down the pistols sight, aiming it directly for the back of Jack's head. "Aye, Jack. If you were to have your own crew, what would you call it?" Jack turned around and began to head in the direction of the boy. "Watch where you point that thing, kid. Unless of course, you're brave enough to pull that trigger." Passing by the boy he took it upon himself to slow down once he reached him, "I had a small crew before I was thrown into Impel Down, the crew was called the Frostbite Pirates. That should be none of your concern, you're a . Now go clean something, Zack." The boy continued aiming the gun at the open sea, pulled the trigger and fired a free round which would get lost in the large ocean. "Because I'm gonna' have a crew that'll be stronger than this shit hole. Everyone here'll remember the name; Buster D. Zack!" ---- A ways away from the ship sat a small island in the open ocean. It was quite small, you could cross it in a minute. It was mostly a sandbar with a couple trees and some sparse grass. A beach chair was plunged into the ground and within it lay a large man. His body was tall and his frame was slim but muscular. He lay reading an issue of Marine Magazine and drinking a bottle of wine. "I wonder if they'll ever stop making this shit." The man grumbled, brushing a lock of scarlet hair from his exposed eye. "Swain Zander. The Hottest Commodore?" He read the article title aloud. "Is this actually the kinda shit people care about? I mean he has abs but so does basically everyone above Ensign. At least it's a different path than the last seven issues. Who's Bust is the Best in the Marines? A Seven Issue Investigation." He sighed. The magazine was trashy but at least it entertained him. He flipped through it, reaching a section with a couple comics. It depicted a dog in a sailor suit digging up buried treasure and burying a pirate like a bone. "Ahh SailorDuke, you get me through the day." The man laughed. As he sat, basking in the sun he noticed a ship on the horizon. It seemed to be leaving something in its wake. The man zoomed in on it using his enhanced vision marveling at what he saw. The ship cut through the ocean leaving behind a sheet of ice it was intriguing to say the least. "Oh ho ho what's this, a ship freezing the ocean. It looks like it's headed to Amazon Lily too. Did Legs get an icy recruit of her own to spite our single admiral? How cruel of you." The man laughed as he stood from his chair, downing the rest of his wine in a single gulp. "Maybe I'll pay them a visit, strike a deal or something." The man laughed as he grabbed a large brimmed hat from the sand. ---- Jack held Zack by his black stripped jacket over the plank of the ship, where the young boy flailed in the air demanding he be let go. "Lemme' go so I can kick your ass, you one-braided bastard." Zack reached into his pocket, drawing his gun again, aiming it at Jack. In that same instance, he pulled the trigger firing a bullet off at Jack. Right before the bullet could make contact, Jack's body changed into ice and the bullet passed right through him. "If I could kill you, without any repercussions, I would." "Jack, sir!" A fellow pirate under his command stood front and center with his hand on his forehead, assuming a saluting position. "Amazon Lily, dead ahead. Ready to dock in the next five minutes, sir. Any orders?" Continuing to hold his position he waiting for Jack's command. Throwing Zack onto the deck of the ship he began to head towards the inside of the ship. "Dock as soon as we get in range with the island. I want to make this as fast a possible." "Tch, throwing me around like I'm a ragdoll. If I could kill you, I would." Zack commented under his breath. ---- "Interesting, looks like an ice logia." The man hummed watching the ship proceed to dock from a mountaintop on Amazon Lily. "He produced a Den Den Mushi from his person and another voice came out. "Yes what is it Valentine?" A gruff voice spoke from the snail. "I'm going to be late to our dinner date Godukera, sorry buddy." Valentine replied with a devilish grin. "Can you stop calling it that. It's a dinner and business to discuss. Not some cheap dinner with one of your floozies." Godukera grumbled. "You're just jealous cause you're married and can't do what I do old man." Valentine shot back, adjusting his hat. "I swear I'm gonna.." The line went static as Valentine hung up, placing the snail back in his clothes. "You're so easy to rile up Godukera, no wonder your kids are all over the place. One of em is a pirate and the others turning into a legitimate psychopathic marine." He sighed, shrugging his shoulders. "Now back to the show." ---- The ship suddenly came to a halt and a few of the pirates began to dock it to the station. Women welcomed the pirates as their feet touched the earth of the island. "We've been waiting for you, Jack." A very tall woman stated, standing firm holding a spear in her left hand. She towered everyone around her, forcing all of them to look up at her. "Good to know. We'll be starting our search immediately, so that we may get out of your hair as soon as possible." Jack made his way down the ramp, now standing face to face with the one who seemed to be their leader. In his hand, he continued to hold a tight grip on Zack's jacket. Lifting him higher up, Jack turned him around so that he looked the boy right in his face. "Zack, long time no see!" The woman stated, pulling Zack from Jack's hand releasing him so that he could stand. "Miss Legs didn't report you'd be coming along. Let me guess..." "Yeah, he snuck onto the Mammoth, right before we headed here. Didn't show himself until we were halfway here." Jack began to eye the boy, "I wonder if I kill him now, would Legs know it was me." "You may proceed with your attempt if you have no qualms about losing your own life in the process." The woman and her troops placed their spears in front of Zack, who'd begun heading back up to the ship. Jack let out his pirate laugh, "Frehahaha, it was a joke, do you Kuja people ever lighten up. On a serious note, where have those who've come in the past gone looking for it? It would be best to look in that direction and work around, with your permission, of course, Talia." "Permission granted. All trespassers seem to have been caught East-135 of this current location. They all claim that a devil fruit with the ability to manipulate bones was spotted here. They call it the, Hone Hone no Mi." Zack returned from the ship, holding some sort of board under his armpit. "Haha, you call your ship the Mammoth? Let me guess, the Frostbite Pirates ship was called the Rhino?" "Actually, it was the Wooly Rhino." Jack replied. Zack stood in silence for a minute looking back and forth at Jack. "Oookay... I'll go on ahead and head east of here. Talia, Jaila I said hey. Oh, and don't tell the hag I snuck on board please!" Following his last words, Zack ran towards the sea, threw the board under his feet and jumping on top of it on the water. Reaching to his pocket he pulled out a ball which he dropped into the water behind his board, causing the once calm waters to stir up, pushing his board across the water, surfing in a sense. "I'll go after that idiot, along with a few of you all. The rest of you head West-60 of here. We'll split our efforts to cover more ground. Send the signal if you find anything." ---- The part had combed the coast for a while now, finally reaching a small cove surrounded by dense jungle. "This is the path you are looking for." One of the women spoke, pointing her spear towards an a mess of vines that seemed to be hiding something, possibly a path. Zack had hopped off his board and joined her and Jack by the vines. "Follow this to the depths of the jungle and there you may find the fruit." She spoke as the women stepped away to let them pass. "This is your task from now on though, it's not our place to hand it to you." ---- The two had been walking down the jungle path for quite some time now, the sun barely crept through the thick leaves but the humidity was unbearable. Moving around was almost like wading through a fine hot mist. At last though the two reached a clearing, an oasis in the dark moist jungle where sun shone down into a small field with a river cutting through it. Frogs, birds, and foxes frolicked in the cool area around the water, basking in the refreshing spray. As the two entered the clearing, reaching the river to take a breather they heard a voice. "Wow you two look really dressed down for jungle exploring. I'd recommend grabbing some water from the river. You can probably cool yourself pretty well though, right ice man." Upon a tree branch across the river sat a man dressed in all black, drinking a bottle of wine. He waved to the two with his free hand. Jack placed his hand out in front of Zack, forcing the boy to stop in his tracks at the voice up ahead in the trees. "I know you, Akaoni the Red Devil himself." Jack pulled himself from the tree branches more and stood in the small open section. Keep his eyes locked on the man before him. "Vice-Admiral; Valentine, knows who I am? I'm flattered." Zack placed his surfboard onto his back, slanting it as though it were a sword. "I knew I smelled Marine scum." He added, slowly reaching into his pocket, gripping the handle of his gun while it was still concealed within his pocket. "Surely you know this is Legs' territory. Any Marine seen on Legs' territory, is to be dealt with on sight." Jack sat down in a criss-cross position, placing his hand on Zack's pocket, telling him to hold his position. "So I'll ask this, what do you want with this island. Your answer, will determine the results." "Jack Frost, former prisoner. How's it going hooking up with Legs' crew? You and this kiddo were out exploring and I just happened to spot your ship. Freezing the ocean really makes it easy to pick people out, though I guess you weren't going for subtle anymore." The man went on, speaking in a carefree tone. "You're doing a great job of dealing with me on sight by the way kid." He winked with his exposed eye. "If you must know I'm really just observing." He continued, taking another swig from his wine. "So you babysitting?" He asked casually. Amazon Talk "Unlike Legs, I feel as though one should be allowed to speak before they are eaten. You simple observation is what kept me from attacking. I freeze paths I travel so that when I return to my destination, I'll be able to simply slide my ship back along the path." Jack took a quick look at his surroundings, "He knows about the Impel Down incident, yet he's come here alone." The pirate thought to himself. "No, I am not babysitting. I don't babysit brats. But he is of great value to Legs, therefore I can not allow him to act on his own. Regardless," Jack quickly changed the subject at hand. "You're aware of what happened in Impel Down, though you are not here in pursuit of me. What are you here to observe?" "Ohh great importance to Legs herself." Valentine chuckled. "I'd wager either a bartering chip or one of her own." He shrugged, holding up a hand preemptively. "Don't worry though, kidnapping children isn't really my style." He slipped off the branch, landing on his feet below it. "As for why I'm not tossing a pair of handcuffs at you, I have no reason to. Other pirates have broken out of Impel Down before, literally, all of them are wanted. You're not special or anything. If I really wanted too I could go bag a crew or two from the new world but I'm not gonna. I'm really more interested in this little fruit hunt of yours. The Hone Hone no Mi right. Why are you two so keen on it?" "Good then, I can relax my muscles now. You too, Zack." Zack didn't budge though. He remained in a position as though he were about to draw his weapon. His face drenched in sweat, he was unsure what his next move should be. He shook, his body literally trembling. Was it anxiety? "What the hell am I feelin'? Is it Haki? Hell no, even at Jack's level he wouldn't be able to just so freely without feelin' somethin'. He's a marine, a member of the people responsible for the destruction of Welch Island. My mother died." Looking at Zack out of the corner of his eye, Jack simply open his mouth as a cold breeze would leave his mouth and surround Zack. "It seems pirates aren't the only ones aware of the Hone Hone no Mi, eh? I don't know of any plans for it, but Legs instructed me to return here and find it. I'll never question her, she has my complete loyalty, I'll give her my life if the situation calls for it." As Jack continued to talk, Zack slowly but surely began to calm down and return to reality. He straightened his stance and began to walk across the open area to the other side of the forest. "I'll leave tha' useless talkin' to you two, nerds. I'm gonna' go ahead and search for the fruit." Swinging his hand in a shooing method, Zack continued speaking to Val. "That answers your question, but you still haven't told me why you're really here." "You're cute as hell kid." Valentine replied, dismissing his question and looking at Jack. "Well It just so happens that I was eavesdropping on you and your Amazon pals while you were having a little walk along the shore. Must be quite worthwhile if Legs wants it." He man grinned as he lowered his head, leaving his face shrouded in the shadow cast by large hat. "Say how would you like to make a deal with me Jack? For the Fruit." "A deal?" Jack questioned the vice-admiral. "If that deal includes you returning back the Marine Headquarters with that fruit, I can not abide by that. My mission is to find this fruit and return it to Legs, and that I will do." While his words were true, Jack wouldn't just easily go for a bargaining deal. The last deal ended with him fleeing for his life. FLASHBACK "Get him, don't let him escape!" A man holding pistol, firing off a shot at a running man shouted. "Jack, you are under arrest, surrender to the army of the Yggdrasil Kingdom and you will be spared your life at the very least." A man dressed in the royal army uniform held his hand up, with some sort of pen in it. Scribbling in the air, ink filled the atmosphere. Appearing behind the man, falling over the troops chasing the man. "Get out of here, Jack." Jack Frost did a simple head nod, "Thank you." FLASHBACK END "I'll never forget the generosity he showed me that day. I wonder, how are you, Newman Quincy?" He thought to himself. "Oh I don't want the fruit at all, its of literally no use to me." Valentine laughed. "However lets say I decided to take a stroll through this very forest after I heard what you were looking for. And hear me out, let's say I found said fruit and took it." He continued. "Now let's say I could send this fruit back to headquarters or go give it to someone else if I want to. Trade it away for something precious." He grinned. "However you are right here so lets say I trade you the fruit for something in return hmm? That's the kind of deal I'm looking to make." Valentine spoke. The air around them began to waver, unsure of what was to come. "Valentine, you still have yet to answer my question. What is it, that you are looking to gain in return? Berri? Gonna have to go and ask someone else for money, those of my ranking only act as officers in Legs' territory. Information on Legs'? You may as well return to your feet and prepare to kill me because you'll literally have to rip any information on the captain out of my skull. Lastly, please don't tell me it's the kid. As much as I'd love to sell him in a slave auction, you'd have to take him over my cold dead corpse as well." Truly, Jack was unaware of what Valentine want, but he knew for a fact; he wouldn't be leaving Amazon Lily with the Hone Hone no Mi in his hand. ---- Meanwhile, Zack entered the other area of the forest with no sense of where he'd been going. It'd been two years since he'd last seen Amazon Lily, as Legs decided to set up shop in Wano. "I have no idea where I'm even going!" He shouted out in anger. "Everything looks the same. There are trees and vines every five damn feet. And these damned bugs! I'll catch a disease out here like this. Tch, and the old hag is like, 'Go to Amazon Lily, find this stupid fruit.'. WE DON'T EVEN KNOW WHERE TO BEGIN TO LOOK. This is like when she forced me to learn medicine and become a doctor." Zack, who'd gone up ahead, seem to have more complaints than success finding the fruit. And if that were the case, he'd be there for quite some time. ---- "You're doing a great job of watching that kid by the way. No telling what might get him in this jungle." Valentine laughed, raising his brim to eye the man once again. "Money, information, slaves. All of that is useless to me. I'm not some platy underworld broker, I'm a respectable businessman. I'll give you the fruit for either yours or the kid's soul, depending on who wants to buy it from me. For a brief moment the world flashed, a grim hells cape cloaked in fire and brimstone stood around them for a mere second with only a towering shadow in place of Valentine. "So wadda ya say Jack. Wanna make a deal with the devil?" Valentine spoke, his grin reaching across his entire face. "Frehahaha," His laugh was much more stable compared to the last one. "If something gets him, he'll probably scream, and I'll go running to his rescue. But you mentioned a 'deal with the devil'. The last time I did that, I walked away without the ability to swim. A life or death situation would obviously end with my selling my soul to protect that kid. Despite his ignorance, I'd bet my life, or in this case my soul on him." Jack stood to his feet, "As easy as that sounds, being able to receive a devil fruit for something like a soul, I'll pass. That boy's dream is to become a pirate one day, and this here is like his first adventure. I'd never take that experience from him just to take an easy route." "He's searching in vain you know." Valentine grinned. "I wasn't joking about finding the fruit. So unless you want the Hone Hone back at headquarters I think a deal would be wise. As you say it seems you already have experience." He laughed as he reached into his uniform, removing a fruit for a brief moment before placing it back. "I'm sure you could always find another fruit but you know, captain's orders, Then there's the kid too. So what'll it be Jack?" "Him searching in vain may be the greatest break I've gotten on this trip." Jack began to think of the words presented by the man in front of him. "From your tone, it seems as though you've already found the fruit." He let out a sigh, "I've told you once before though, I can not leave this island with the fruit known as the Hone Hone no Mi. Nor will I ever make a deal with the devil again." Rubbing his forearm he continued, "Surely there must be some other peaceful way to decide the hands of whom the fruit will lie in." Jack sat back to the ground, "Let me know when that solution has been thought of. Until then, I will enjoy the sweet aroma which lacks the brat." "This is all peaceful, I'm not attacking and neither are you. I don't intend to end this in fighting at all. You're the one that's quite stuck aren't you." Valentine continued, letting out a pretend yawn. "I've got the fruit you want and I can leave back to headquarters whenever I want. I'll get your soul one way and I'll either get a bartering chip with Legs or commendations another. So I'll ask you once more before I depart from here." He grinned as he activated his haki, viewing the very soul within Jack. "You wanna make a deal?" Jack lifted his eyebrow at the Vice-Admiral's activation of Haki. "A man who bears activation to a form of combat is a man who seeks conflict. If this were truly a peaceful matter, you'd need not to activate those colors." As he continued to talk, a white cloud of mist exerted from his mouth and began to overtake the area, slowly freezing the things around. "You've bared your poisonous fangs at me, it is only right I bare my frozen ones right back." He had not truly intended for a fight, but he would not sit idly by while a Marine, natural enemy to the Pirates intimidated his person. ---- "Damn." Zack puffed flopping to his rear end to take a seat on the ground. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the small notebook again. "I remember hearin' Lucas mention a Shipwright a few days ago. Said he was gonna' take his ship by his company to get it repaired. Damn.. what was his name?" Rather than looking for the Devil Fruit in question, Zack had taken a break to re-think his potential crewmates for his future pirate crew. "I GOT IT!" He shouted, causing nearby birds to ruffle in the leaves then fly away. "Hornigold Benjamin, owner of Ships at Sea Inc.." Flipping to the page where the names of the many individual lie, he began to write down the name he'd just mentioned; Hornigold Benjamin (Shipwright). He should be perfect! ---- "Oh we're doing this then." Valentine laughed aloud, his smile reaching outwards to the edges of his face. "You're not gonna like what comes next Jack." Valentine laughed. Zack really shouldn't be yelling so loud. He extended a hand in Zack's direction an snapping his fingers. The entire area bust into flame for a moment as fire ripped through the jungle, turning it to pure ash before fading as fast as it came. From Zack's perspective, the fire would rush in all around him, turning the jungle to ash but not touching the area close to him. As the flames faded Valentine turned back to look at the slowly freezing environment near Jack and laughed. "Might want to make sure your boy isn't ash too. I'm not sure if I missed or not." He continued playfully. "If you really wanna fight I'll assure you these flaming fangs of mine will melt your soul." "'He got caught in the crossfire.' Yeah, it's got a really nice ring to it if you ask me." Jack made a joke of Valentine's threat to well aware that the young boy was perfectly fine. "Oh? You told me we'd be able to handle things peacefully, would you go against those words and lie?" Jack returned to his former sitting position but folded his arms this time. "Vice-Admiral Valentine, what is your view "Justice"?" He asked, cooling himself off with the powers of the Hie Hie no Mi. "Heh Justice. Interesting you bring that up isn't it. The truth is that's why Zacky boy over there is still alive. I only bared my fangs cause you bared yours. I'm not a believer in that Absolute Justice crap. You know the tales of the former pirate king, the marines are not always in the right. Sometimes we're out there doing bad and pirates are out there doing good. However we must remain as a body to keep some sort of order. Were there no one to fight off the pirates that seek nothing but to harm the innocent that wouldn't be a very nice world would it." The Vice Admiral spoke as he folded his arms over his chest. "As I said I'm here to make a deal with you cause I thought it would be fun. I ain't here to attack you unless you give me a reason to." "You seem to not be a nobleman, but at the very least you are humble." Jack stood back to his feet again and held his arms out as though he were preparing for a hug. "It's nice to finally hear someone of the law to admit to the faulty system known as Justice, it is not something I hear every day. You spared the boy's life, you have my utmost gratitude, Val." Lowering his hand back down to his side he began to lock his view towards the forest. "He once told Legs he had ambitions to one day become a great Marine and hopefully an Admiral, feared by all pirates. That was a short-lived dream after that Marines destroy his home island in the South Blue. Surely at the sight of him, you could sense the resentment towards you, he wanted to behead you just a few moments ago. But he hesitated because he's aware it wasn't you. That sense of Justice the Marines follow has tarnished a young boy's dream, but gave birth to a new one." "I'm not too intoned with what that exactly means, but Val, you say you came seeking a deal with me. That boy's safety is the only deal I can make." "Referring to me as Val now huh, we're not besties you know." Valentine joked. "Probably got tipped off that there was a pirate on it or something. You'd be surprised at how easily people can justify pointless slaughter." He shrugged and reached into his coat, once again producing the fruit. "I'm assuming he wants to eat this to become stronger, to fight back." Valentine turned to look down the path at Zack before looking back at Jack. "Is this what you think would help him though, you yourself said you'd never deal with the devil again." He hummed before releasing one final statement. "Then again did your deal with the devil really ruin you that badly, the ability to no longer swim is a small price to pay for power." "Are you blind?" Jack asked, lifting both of his eyebrows in shock. "The inability to swim, as a Pirate, is by far the biggest price to pay. The world is said to be seventy-one percent water, while the rest is the land. Pirate travel the world on this seventy-one percent and if an enemy pirate is spotted during travel, there's a higher chance of engaging that pirate on the water than it is land. To say, not being able to swim is a small price... is idiotic even for someone of your caliber." While Jack seemed aggressive, his statement was indeed true. Not being able to swim while pursuing a life of piracy were two conflicting things, despite people being able to do so in the past. "Swimming is overrated anyways." Valentine laughed. "Granted I was never much a swimmer myself." He shrugged, lightly tossing the fruit from hand to hand. "I have no reason to swim, no desire to swim, and now I can't. I see that as no real downside to me. Maybe to you and your dreams it's a real travesty." Valentine was bored now, with Jack and the whole charade. "So I'm gonna go give this fruit to some mid rank marine in about twenty seconds. Last call for a deal or we're done here." He stated very plainly. Break My Bones It seemed as though Valentine had been taunting Jack, in fact, it seemed to have been an ongoing thing since they'd first crossed paths. He'd been ignoring it though, trying to find a way to handle the Vice-Admiral without laying waste to the Leg's territory. While he never outright said anything about the man flashing the fruit off to him earlier, he knew there was something more to what rested in his hand. "He causes it to appear and disappear continuously." Jack began to think to himself. "It's impossible, that isn't the real Hone Hone no Mi. I'd think once someone, especially those of the World Government, found something like a Devil Fruit they'd head back to a nearby HQ as soon as possible." Jack could no longer hold in his curiosity. Without moving a muscle, a thin ice sickle form in mid-air. Following its formation, the sickle of ice shot at Valentine swiftly. From an immediate view, it would appear as though Jack were attacking the Vice-Admiral. However, this was not the case. Jack aimed his sickle at the fruit, Valentine had been throwing up, attempting to pierce it. ---- Zack had been resting on his knee, releasing heavy pants as though he were out of breath. He sat in an open area, seemingly burnt. Zack placed his hand on across on stomach as though he had been grabbing it. "The hell is Jack doin'!" He shouted, continuing his heavy panting. "That's gotta be the power of that Marine, guy. The forest was lit on fire outta nowhere." Zack rose to his feet dusting his body in the process. Rubbing his hand through his hair he looked around, surveying the area. Directly in front of him, to his dismay, a man dressed in a tuxedo stood with his back towards Zack. "Who the hell..." Just as Zack formed a thought process, the mysterious figure turned around to face him, only to find that the man's face was masked. In his hand was a bone. ---- Valentine smiled as he watched the sickle fly through the air, intercepting the fruit as it peaked in the air. There was a hiss as it split apart and the sickle continued on, impaling a nearby tree. The fruit was nothing more than a mirage, hot air and lies. "Oh no looks like I'm found out." Valentine shrugged, "Took you long enough. I was really hoping for that deal too." He paused before turning his head towards the burnt jungle. "Seems like the kid went ahead on his own sightseeing. Things may actually get interesting." Valentine stated, looking back to Jack. "Never know what might happen. Not wise to leave a kid alone in a forest." He shrugged, before turning and moving towards the burnt forest. It seemed Jack's suspicions were correct. "The way you played with it, gave it up. Even a Vice Admiral would return to base after finding a Devil Fruit. A tactic used to have people sell their souls with the false intent of receiving some sort of greedy desire. Yet, the people of the world believe that pirates are the conniving ones." Jack began to survey the area, noticing the absence of Zack. Not much time had passed, so he knew there was no way he would have been able to get to the other side of the island. "Seems you are correct, Valentine." Jack stated, making his way towards the burnt forest as well. "Knowing that brat, he's probably lost or got himself in a situation he cannot run out of." ---- The masked man and Zack now stood glaring at each other. Zack, despite being unaware of the man in front of him was, did not waver. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out his pistol and held it to his side. "Who the hell're you?" He asked, slowly pulling down the hammer of the gun. There were no words following Zack's question. Only the clicking of him fiddling with his gun. The masked assailant tightened his grip on the bone. Reaching to his back he pulled on what seemed to be the handle of a sword. Pulling it from his back he revealed a fine short-bladed sword, which he used to slice the air unleashing a blade of wind from it. Once done, he began walking towards Zack. Zack remained unharmed as the wind slashes seemed to not be aimed at him. Still though, despite the man intentionally missing, he quickly learned that they would not engage in a friendly conversation. "And when you need that blockhead with the braid, he ain't even around." Lifting his gun up aiming it at the man, he pulled the trigger a total of four times allowing a single bullet to travel out of the barrel each time the trigger was pulled. With little to no effort, the man deflected three of the bullets using his small blade. However, for the final bullet, he stabbed at it holding it on the tip of the sword. Touching it, he barely lifted his mask and wiped off his mouth. Pulling it back down he began to look at the bullet from a side view and touched it. "Seastone bullets. Counter-measures for logia users?" He trembled as he watched his attack amount to nothing. "Thanks, Captain Obvious of tha' infamous Obvious Pirate crew. I thought you were mute." Zack shifted his eyes to the man's other hand holding the bone. "What's that bone in your hand for? Got a pet dog or somethin'?" "Hm? You mean to tell me, you've come to this island unaware of the treasure that awaits the survivor?" He held brung his hand up to his chest, showing the bone off to Zack. Upon a clearer view, one could actually see the details of the bone. Over its canvas were multiple black squiggly lines covering it. "The, Hone Hone no Mi. The shape of a bone, well damn, that was obvious too huh?" It seemed as though Zack had no knowledge of the fruit's appearance, but given the name, he felt like a dunce for not expecting it. Again, he dugs his hand into his pocket but this time he let it rest there. At that exact moment, the masked man had disappeared and reappeared running towards Zack with his blade out. In a single motion, he swiped his sword past Zack's face cutting him along the cheek. Flipping the sword, now holding it by the blade, he trusts the end of its hilt into Zack's stomach, causing the young boy to spit out blood. The blow was too much for him to stand, sending him falling to the ground face first. "After letting you see the Hone Hone no Mi, I can't let you live. Sorry, but today just isn't your lucky day." He flipped the sword yet again now holding it by the hilt with the end of the blade pointed straight for Zack's chest. "Wait... he did all of that.. so fast! One minute he was over there, the next I was hit twice. I can't even... stop myself from falling." Zack could barely get his words out it. "It's sad that someone so young has to meet their end so earlier. My name is Myst, a broker of the underworld." He then squatted over Zack and slid his blade up the leaking wound on his cheek, allowing the blood to slide down the blade. Zack's mouth moved, but sound did not come out. "Sorry, am I crushing you? I can't hear you too well." Zack squirmed a little and threw his right hand over to grab his left arm. "YOU DUMBASS, I SAID DEFLECT THIS!" He shouted, as from his left pocket a violent uncontrollable burst of wind exploded from it. The force of the wind was so great, that it threw the man into the air. Just before the man got out of his grasp, Zack reached at him but wasn't able to grab him. Trees were tipped over and debris filled the air, concealing the boy from the man's sight. "Damn, his strike at my gut made it hard for me to breath." His words backed up by his heavy panting. The debris slowly cleared and Zack fixed his gaze onto Myst who'd been also rising to his feet. "Nice party trick, kid. But it'll take more than that to kill me." "I couldn't even follow him earlier. Right now, I know I can't even take another hit. Also the breath dial can't be used any time soon." Zack straightened himself and pulled his sleeve over his hand to cover the wound on his cheek. "A broker, you said. So, you planned on selling this then." He stated, holding the fruit up to show Myst, in the same way he did him. "When in the hell did you?! How?!" Myst couldn't form a proper sentence. His mind mostly focused on trying to figure out how did the Hone Hone no Mi get into Zack's possession. But then he remembers... Once he was blown back by the burst of Zack's dial, the boy reached at him. The pressure made Myst numb and blind to the fact that Zack had removed the Hone Hone no Mi from him while he had been flying back. "Legs told Jack to retrieve the fruit from Amazon Lily, she ain't say how though." Holding the devil fruit with both of his hands, Zack widened his mouth and took a bite at the bone-shaped fruit. Swallowing the chunk, Zack proceeded to devour both the remaining chunks in his hand. "YOU DAMNED BRAT!!!!" Myst shouted charging at Zack. ---- Meanwhile... The duo of Valentine and Jack had been walking for quite some time. During their walk, Jack couldn't help but think about the situation Zack could have found himself in. "Hey Valen-" Jack was cut off by the large explosion in the distance. Instead of continuing on with his sentence, he took off running towards the direction of the powerful explosion. "Woah would you look at that." The demon snickered, "I'll see you there." He laughed, disappearing from view. Valentine appeared atop a tree, overlooking a large clearing. Within the center stood a masked man, holding Zack by his neck. The boys ribs were protruding from his stomach, massive in size. Zack himself hung limp in the air as the mysterious man tightened his grip. It was a gruesome display for most, for a Marine like Valentine thou it wasn't much. He'd seen countless fields of gore and blood, corpses piled high and people split down the middle. Was the kid really dead that quickly? He peered at two to double check, and found that his soul was still quite intact. "Interesting, looks like he must've eaten the Hone Hone then. Explains the bones and the lack of death quite reasonably." He concluded. The air around him began to warp as he grinned. Valentine hopped down from his perch, landing without a sound. It was his bellowing voice that announced his presence. "You there, ruffian. What's up with the child murder in the middle of Yonko territory. I mean are you insane or an ally of some pirate that hates Legs or what? I"m out here trying to start a reasonable forest fire and get rid of some of this jungle, ya know terraform for a couple houses or a private spa." He ranted, placing his hand on his face in a very dramatic fashion. "Then you come in and start causing explosions and murdering children and ruining my operation." When the man turned to look though he would not see Valentine. He would see a black haired man dressed in a purple pinstripe suit, a briefcase in one hand and a pair of red glasses sitting snugly on his face. "I'm about this close to terraforming you ass mister." He roared, holding his fingers very close together in front of him to imitate squashing the man's head from his perspective. "Seems the Navy has come to the rescue." Myst mumbled. Despite the man's sudden change in appearance, he was able to successfully find out who he was. "This wasn't supposed to take this long, damn." He mumbled again, turning his attention to the Zack who'd been being held in the air. "You've made my mission harder than what it is now. I should kill you and return the fruit back into circulation." Quickly he turned his head to the open forest. As quick as he turned his head, an ice sickle came flying at him. Myst threw the boy to a nearby tree and leaped backward just barely avoiding being hit by the ice construct. The area around where the ice sickle made contact with began to instantly freeze. "Sub-Zero is here too? Now is not the time, I've already failed as it is." Myst leaped on a nearby tree branch with his back facing the two adversaries. "So long as you're the current holder of the Hone Hone no Mi, I will continue to hunt you down. Moonwalk." He calmly stated leaping into the air jumping from side to side as though he had been "walking" on it. Jack took the time out to ignore the man and made his way towards Zack, who'd been lying flat out on his back. He stood over him and placed his hand on his chin. "Did he... beat the bones out of you, Zack?" Despite the boy's bleeding condition, Jack felt as though he just needed to crack a joke. "Shut up dumbass. I-i think it's an ability of the bone fruit. Seconds after eatin' it my ribs ripped through my skin and extended out. It hurts like hell too, I think I'm a skeleton man." "Wow you're literally zero fun." Valentine grumbled as the disguise faded from view. "This kid eat your fruit and now you're whining about it?" He was cut short by Jack's entrance, attacking the man with a sickle of ice. As the man dropped Zack and jumped away, Valentine watched Jack rush to the kid's side. He wasn't really concerned with the kid though, Jack had that under control. In an instant Valentine appeared a good distance ahead of the man in the air. With a snap a wall of flames was roaring around the two. "So I'm quite interested in what your deal is. I was gonna ask but you ran off before we could chat." He sighed. "Were you really gonna kill a kid, come on you're above that right?" It was just one thing after another this day and all of them trivial and annoying. He could have just kept reading his terrible magazine but he'd decided to involve himself in this whole ordeal. Myst ignored Valentine's words continuing to utilize his moonwalking ability to get past him only to meet a wall of flames. "Shave." He mumbled disappearing from sight. Jack looked around in attempts to locate the man, but he'd had noticed he couldn't find him out anywhere. "Leave it be, Valentine." Following his statement, Jack threw a now unconscious Zack over his shoulder. "It was nice meeting you, Valentine. Though, I should truly be taking my leave before the Kuja are irritated by a man's presence. The next time we meet, the chances of me not being on a mission are significantly higher. Meaning we'll definitely be enemies. Even then, I will be sure to tell you about Zack's progress." Valentine watched as the man passed through his flames, flames latching to his clothes in the process. He was still dashing away from him. Valentine could perceive his movement though, it was all slow to him. He did not follow but instead caused the wall to spit into a mass of hounds made from the fire. "Hunt him down." He spoke before appearing beside Jack and Zack. "Looks like the little guy tuckered himself out huh." The demon grinned, snapping his fingers a couple times by the boy's head. He nodded to Jack and grinned. "I suppose so, I'm looking forwards to the progress reports on this little skelly-man. Oh and if you ever feel like selling your soul just let me know alright." He face twisted into a more devilish grin before returning to normal. "Oh and if you see Thatch or Legs, tell them I said hello alright." Category:Role-Plays Category:Role-Plays